Bright and bouncy Harajuku in Tokyo has been good to a lot of people. Takanao Muramatsu published a book, "Harajuku Success Story," for which he interviewed more than a hundred people who succeeded in business in Harajuku. The trendy district has been good to Muramatsu too. He commemorated the name in his first boutique that originated there, and continues it in his expanding, buoyant HP group.
"From the beginning I loved the youth and vitality of Harajuku," Muramatsu said. "It has its own distinct personality that attracts fashion-conscious people." He came to Harajuku because of his wife, who worked in a fashion boutique there.
Before that, Muramatsu, a law student when he was at Senshu University, was employed by a publishing company. Financially pinched, he left one job to take on two. During the day he cooked at the Tsukiji fish market, and during the evenings he washed dishes at the Sanno Hotel. Both occupations were incongruous to what came next for him.